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The Qibla As Ritual, Metaphor, and Identity Marker in Early Islam Ari Michael Gordon University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]

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The Qibla As Ritual, Metaphor, and Identity Marker in Early Islam Ari Michael Gordon University of Pennsylvania, Rigo322@Gmail.Com University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2018 Sacred Orientation: The Qibla As Ritual, Metaphor, And Identity Marker In Early Islam Ari Michael Gordon University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Islamic Studies Commons, and the Islamic World and Near East History Commons Recommended Citation Gordon, Ari Michael, "Sacred Orientation: The Qibla As Ritual, Metaphor, And Identity Marker In Early Islam" (2018). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 3220. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3220 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3220 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sacred Orientation: The Qibla As Ritual, Metaphor, And Identity Marker In Early Islam Abstract Scholars of early Islam often take for granted the title of this study—that facing the qibla (i.e. the geographic direction of worship) is an important Islamic ritual and that Muḥammad’s turn toward the Kaʿba after facing Jerusalem for prayer marked the identity of his nascent community. This postulate is rarely questioned, but the mechanisms by which the qibla expressed and inscribed a collective Islamic identity remain largely unexplored. Rather, study of Islam’s sacred direction tends to focus on either historical reconstruction of Islamic origins or on the science of qibla-calculation. The former seeks to question or establish the location of the original qibla, while the latter examines the mathematics, astronomy, and cartography used to ascertain the direction of prayer with growing precision from around the Muslim oikumene. This dissertation probes, instead, the discursive and ritual processes through which qibla-rhetoric and qibla-practice fostered a sense of group belonging and marked boundaries between Islam and other religious communities (mainly Christians and Jews). Through four interlocking projects—spanning Islam’s emergence in Late Antiquity through the Early Middle Ages—this study explicates the subtle ways in which the qibla served as a potent and durable symbol in the construction of Islamic collective identity. Chapter 1 considers the Qurʿān’s presentation of the qibla (Q Baqara 2:142-150) as part of the late antique discourse around liturgical orientation and group identity in the Near East. Chapter 2 explores the semantic usage of the term “People of the Qibla” (ahl al-qibla) to express a kind of “big-tent” view of Islamic community, and traces its earliest recorded usage to Iraq in the late Umayyad period. Chapter 3 studies scholarly (and often polemical discussions of abrogation (naskh) among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the tenth century, where a change in the qibla became a metaphor for divine election of one people over others. The final chapter takes up the interpretive challenge of supposedly misaligned mosques and what they may tell us about the formative period of Islam. This study concludes by reflecting on the challenges of examining collective identity in premodern societies, and we propose three lenses for doing so that can benefit chos lars of early Islam: namely, that we study identity as imagined, identity as a process, and identity as inexhaustible. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations First Advisor Joseph E. Lowry Keywords Early Islam, Muslim-Jewish Relations, Orientation, qibla, Ritual, Sacred Geography This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3220 Subject Categories Islamic Studies | Islamic World and Near East History | Religion This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3220 SACRED ORIENTATION: THE QIBLA AS RITUAL, METAPHOR, AND IDENTITY-MARKER IN EARLY ISLAM Ari Michael Gordon A DISSERTATION in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2019 Supervisor of Dissertation ________________________________________ Joseph E. Lowry Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Graduate Group Chairperson ________________________________________ Joseph E. Lowry, Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Dissertation Committee Paul M. Cobb Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Daniel Frank Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Ohio State University SACRED ORIENTATION: THE QIBLA AS RITUAL, METAPHOR, AND IDENTITY-MARKER IN EARLY ISLAM COPYRIGHT 2019 ARI M. GORDON This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ iii For Shu, who is my qibla and my compass iv Acknowledgements “Ben Zoma used to say, ‘Who is wise? One who learns from all people…Who is honorable? One who honors all.’” (Pirqei Avot 4:1) It is a privilege to thank those from whom I have learned and to acknowledge those who offered support along the road to completion of this project. I am grateful to the University of Pennsylvania and the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, where rigorous scholars and kind people are one and the same faculty. My advisor, Joseph Lowry, spent countless hours to help my ideas gestate, hone my arguments, and dial down the drama that arises in the course of writing a dissertation. I hope that the final product reflects his dual commitments to philology and theoretical inquiry. Paul Cobb taught me how to ask useful questions in the fields of history and geography and gave me the tools to seek out their answers. Daniel Frank took an interest in my project from the first time we discussed it, and his support throughout and guidance on navigating the study of interreligious relations was invaluable. I also received generous insights from Talya Fishman, Renata Holod, and Huda Fakhreddine whose varied expertise complemented my research. Linda Greene, Diane Moderski, Peggy Guinan and Jane Reznik make it easy to navigate the administrative terrain along the way and ensure that students are always well cared for. My fellow students were fellow travelers and teachers, as well. Marc Herman, with whom I studied many of the Arabic and Judeo-Arabic texts that appear in this dissertation, was a regular thought partner and remains a good friend. Raha Rafii and Elias Saba listened to countless hours of qibla-talk and made sure that laughter and self-care did not fall victim of the academic process. A number of people outside of UPENN were essential to the development of my scholarship, as well. The topic of this dissertation resulted from several conversations v with Bernard Septimus, who first exposed me to the abundance of qibla references in Islamic and Jewish sources. Professor Septimus taught me that the best ideas are rooted in philological inquiry, and that patience (with one’s self and one’s sources) is a virtue in the field of scholarship. Jon Levenson’s eminent teaching modeled the reading of sacred texts with literary sensitivity and academic rigor—that theological and historical inquiry need not be at odds. I am also grateful to Khaled El-Rouayheb, who challenged a newcomer to Arabic to develop comfort with classical texts and to push beyond my comfortable limits. The reassurance of mentors was also essential to my progress, and I wish to thank John Pawlikowski, Michael Trainor, and Benjamin Gampel, among many others, for their “friendtorship” over the years. Much credit is due to my parents, who expressed pride in my achievements and unconditional love at every turn. My mother always encouraged me to view “others” with diginity and humanity, and this value has fueled my study of interreligious relations. My father read every paper and chapter I wrote and offered organizational suggestions at important turning points in my research. My siblings were a source of constant support, even as Islamic studies was not the expected path for their Orthodox Jewish brother. My inlaws Rabbi Michael and Basi Taubes and their children were always interested to hear about the PhD process and to offer their love and advice in difficult times. Finally, my completion of this dissertation is most attributable to Shuli. She has been my unflagging partner through the vicissitudes and dramas of the past years. She has taught me that often the best things in life require perseverance and that there is no fun quite as enjoyable as that which comes at the end of a full day’s work. Shuli is my qibla and the compass that I use to find it—this achievement is hers, too. vi ABSTRACT SACRED ORIENTATION: THE QIBLA AS RITUAL, METAPHOR, AND IDENTITY-MARKER IN EARLY ISLAM Ari M. Gordon Joseph E. Lowry Scholars of early Islam often take for granted the title of this study—that facing the qibla (i.e. the geographic direction of worship) is an important Islamic ritual and that Muḥammad’s turn toward the Kaʿba after facing Jerusalem for prayer marked the identity of his nascent community. This postulate is rarely questioned, but the mechanisms by which the qibla expressed and inscribed a collective Islamic identity remain largely unexplored. Rather, study of Islam’s sacred direction tends to focus on either historical reconstruction of Islamic origins or on the science of qibla-calculation. The former seeks to
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